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Thursday, July 28, 2011

BSP: Dark Corners Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway

Reader Girls is hosting the Dark Corners Blog Tour through the Bookish Snob Promotions today. Dark Corners is an adult psychological thriller complete with ghosts and a murder mystery for main character Ella to solve. Try reading this one at night!

Blurb:

Ella Reynolds knew from the first moment she walked into the old house someone or something was watching her. Waiting. Her husband's violent murder sent her spiraling into a world of grief and isolation, but Ella isn't alone. Who or what is responsible for her husband's death is still with her. Darkness has engulfed the past year of Ella's life. Everyday reality slips a little more between her fingers as she struggles to break free from her memories. She must look deeper into her past as well as the present to discover truth of her husband's homicide. A string of uncanny events takes place and practical explanations run thin as Ella follows the terrifying road to closure. As the past and present come to a head, Ella must decipher who or what the murderer is before it takes her as well.

Excerpt: FIVE

My head’s throbbing made me force my eyelids apart the next morning. It could have been a hangover or a general lack of sleep, having tossed and turned most of the night, but I was as tired as when I’d first fallen asleep. The pain, however, was a relief so I didn’t take anything to dull the ache. At least it was something real, something to indicate I was still here. I was still alive.

I didn’t bother changing out of my pajamas. Slipping on my thick terry cloth robe, I let the belt drag on the floor as I did my best zombie shuffle to the kitchen.

In the hallway I picked up a half finished glass of vodka off the entrance table. The ice cubes had long since melted and the vodka was room temperature, but I drank it anyway. The watered down vodka did little to help my churning stomach, but it did provide the welcome sense of something familiar. The kitchen held new unwanted surprises. All of the dishes and glasses were out of the cabinets sitting across the counters and table. I blinked a few times, hoping it was my imagination, but the kitchen remained a stubborn realm of chaos. I opened each cupboard and sure enough each one was completely cleared out.

“Son of a bitch. Next time why don’t you pack them in boxes?” I yelled to whatever I inhabited the house with. The house answered me with stillness and absolute silence. It was good at playing possum—with me and any time other people were around. It was only on rare occasions I had actual witnesses to my torment, someone to say, “I saw that, you aren’t crazy.”

I rolled my eyes; I just did not have the energy to deal with this now. Picking up the backup vodka from the counter, I officially gave up.

“You made the mess, you clean it up.” I said loud enough it made my head pound. I sauntered towards the living room holding the vodka bottle by the neck in one hand and my glass in the other. Before I could crash on the couch, an explosion of breaking glass came from the kitchen.

“Shit,” I grumbled and went back to peek around the corner. One of the stacks of plates was shattered on the floor.

“Break them all, like I give a crap. I’ll burn the place down,” I snarled, setting my precious vodka down. The front door slammed behind me. I whipped around. The door looked as it always did—except it was unlocked. I crept over to it and yanked it open, hoping for an element of surprise, trying to push away the fear of what I would find . . .

Many authors claim to have known their calling from a young age. Liz Schulte, however, didn't always want to be an author. In fact, she had no clue. Liz wanted to be a veterinarian, then she wanted to be a lawyer, then she wanted to be a criminal profiler. In a valiant effort to keep from becoming Walter Mitty, Liz put pen to paper and began writing her first novel. It was at that moment she realized this is what she was meant to do. As a scribe she could be all of those things and so much more.

When Liz isn’t writing or on social networks she is inflicting movie quotes and trivia on people, reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family. Liz is a Midwest girl through and through, though she would be perfectly happy never having to shovel her driveway again. She has a love for all things spooky, supernatural, and snarky. Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allen Poe to Joseph Heller to Jane Austen to Jim Butcher and everything in between.